Several shots were fired Friday, December 23, rue d’Enghien, in Paris, at a Kurdish cultural center and two neighboring businesses. Three people, a woman and two men, died, according to a report drawn up by the Paris prosecutor, Laure Beccuau, at the start of the afternoon. Three men were also injured, one “in a state of absolute emergency” And two “in a state of relative emergency”.
The magistrate confirmed during a press briefing that the “implicated” had been arrested on the spot, in the 10e capital district. Placed in police custody, the latter would be “wounded, especially in the face”. “The murderer himself [blessé et] in relative emergency, was taken to the hospital”reported the mayor of the 10e borough, Alexandra Cordebard, present on the scene.
Criminal record for racism
According to information from Worldthe suspect, William M., 69, is known to justice “for acts of violence committed in 2016 and for attempted voluntary homicide in a migrant camp in the 12e arrondissement of Paris on December 8, 2021 ».
In a press release, the Paris prosecutor mentions three criminal records. In June 2017, William M. was sentenced to six suspended prison sentences for “prohibited possession of weapons of categories A, B and C”. In June 2022, he was sentenced to twelve months’ imprisonment for acts of violence with weapons committed in 2016. The procedure is still ongoing, William M. having appealed this judgment.
More recently, William M. is suspected of having slashed with a saber, in December 2021, several shelters of a camp occupied by migrants, mainly single men of Sudanese origin, located behind the performance hall of the Accor Arena, in Paris. Two people present at the scene, injured, were briefly hospitalized at Pitié-Salpêtrière.
Released from prison on December 12
In the context of this last case, the sexagenarian had been indicted for “violence with ITT of less or more than eight days with a weapon, with premeditation and of a racist nature and degradation”. Placed in pre-trial detention for nearly a year, he was released on December 12 and placed under judicial supervision with a ban on leaving the territory and carrying a weapon. A release from prison takes place “at the end of the maximum period of provisional detention of one year provided for by law”, justified the prosecutor in a press release. The judicial information being still in progress, William M. had not yet been judged.
A few hours after the shootings on Friday, Laure Beccuau declared that the “racist motives” of the attack would “obviously part of the investigations”. The National Anti-Terrorist Prosecutor’s Office and its services came to the scene, rue d’Enghien, “but as it stands, (…) there is no element that would favor the need for their referral”said the prosecutor. “There is nothing at this stage to accredit any affiliation of this man to an extremist ideological movement”she added at the end of the afternoon in a press release.
Shooter in a sports club
Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin, who visited the scene of the attack, said the shooter had “obviously acted alone”. Despite his criminal past, the latter was not “not known to the intelligence services”neither “filed as someone ultra-right”, added the minister, specifying that the 69-year-old man arrested was “shooter” in a sports club and had “declared many weapons”.
According to the minister, there is no ” not sure (…) that [le tireur] did it specifically for [viser] the Kurds »but rather to target “strangers”. His motive can be determined after his hearing, ” in few hours “because he is currently hospitalized for injuries, added the minister.
Tags: William suspected killed people front Kurdish cultural center Paris
